In general, an air conditioner is provided with a refrigerating cycle constituted with a compressor, a condenser, a capillary tube, a heat exchanger, etc., and properly supplies cool air generated from an evaporator and warm air generated from the condenser indoors according to the indoor condition, thereby maintaining the indoor circumstance comfortably.
The air conditioner is divided into a window type air conditioner and a separated type air conditioner according to an installation method. The window type air conditioner is installed at the window, etc. under the state that an outdoor unit and an indoor unit are integrally assembled in one case, and the separate type air conditioner is respectively installed at the outdoor and the indoor under the state that the outdoor unit and the indoor unit are separated from each other.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a window type air conditioner in accordance with the conventional art, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an outdoor unit of the window type air conditioner in accordance with the conventional art.
The conventional window type air conditioner comprises: a case 100 of which one side is positioned at the outdoor side and another side is positioned at the indoor side; an outdoor unit 110 installed at the outdoor side of the case 100 and heat-exchanged with the outdoor air; an indoor unit 120 installed at the indoor side of the case 100 and heat-exchanged with the indoor air; and a compressor 130 for compressing a refrigerant.
The case 100 is installed at the wall that divides the outdoors and the indoors, and one side of the case 100 is positioned at the outdoor side and another side thereof is positioned at the indoor side on the basis of the wall. An outdoor air suction port 102 for sucking the outdoor air is formed at both lateral surfaces of the case 100 positioned at the outdoor side. Also, an outdoor air discharge port 104 for discharging the air that has been heat-exchanged while passing through the outdoor unit 110 outdoors is formed at the rear surface of the case 100. At the front surface of the case 100 positioned at the indoor side, an indoor air suction port 106 for sucking the indoor air and an indoor air discharge port 108 for discharging the air that has been heat-exchanged while passing through the indoor unit 120 indoors are respectively formed.
The outdoor unit 110 is composed of: an outdoor heat exchanger 112 installed inside the case 100 positioned at the outdoor side and connected to the compressor 130 by a refrigerant pipe thus to be heat-exchanged with the outdoor air; and an axial fan 114 opposite to the outdoor heat exchanger 112 for generating a blowing force to suck the outdoor air and thus to discharge it to the outdoor heat exchanger 112.
The axial fan 114 is mounted in a shroud 116 for guiding the outdoor air sucked by the axial fan 114 to the outdoor heat exchanger 112. The shroud 116 is provided with an orifice 118 for attenuating a velocity vector in a radius direction of the outdoor air at the time of sucking the outdoor air.
The shroud 116 is provided with the orifice 118 at one side surface thereof, and is provided with the outdoor heat exchanger 112 at another side surface thereof. The shroud 116 is formed as a hexahedron shape that the axial fan 114 is rotatably mounted therein.
As shown in FIG. 3, the orifice 118 is formed as a circular ring shape wound on the outer circumferential surface of the axial fan 114, and is integrally formed at the shroud 116. The orifice 118 has the width T enough wide for the axial fan 114 to be partially exposed to outside of the orifice 118.
The axial fan 114 is composed of: a hub 146 connected to a driving motor 140 by a rotational shaft 142; blades 148 formed at the outer side of the hub 146 in a circumferential direction with the same interval. One side of the blade 148 is mounted in the shroud 116, and another side thereof is exposed to outside of the orifice 118.
The indoor unit 120 is composed of: an indoor heat exchanger 122 installed inside the case 100 positioned at the indoor side for heat-exchanging the indoor air; and a centrifugal fan 124 opposite to the indoor heat exchanger 122 for generating a blowing force so that the indoor air can pass through the indoor heat exchanger 122.
An orifice 126 for guiding the indoor air that has passed through the indoor heat exchanger 122 to the centrifugal fan 124 is formed between the indoor heat exchanger 122 and the centrifugal fan 124. An air guide 128 for guiding the air that has passed through the centrifugal fan 124 to the indoor air discharge port 108 is installed at the upper side of the centrifugal fan 124.
A division plate 150 for dividing the outdoor unit 110 and the indoor unit 120 is installed inside the case 100, and a driving motor 140 for driving the centrifugal fan 124 and the axial fan 114 is mounted at the division plate 150.
Operation of the window type air conditioner in accordance with the conventional art will be explained in more detail. When a power source is applied to the air conditioner, the compressor 130 and the driving motor 140 are driven thus to heat-exchange the outdoor air at the outdoor unit 110 and to heat-exchange the indoor air at the indoor unit 120.
More specifically, when the axial fan 114 is driven, the outdoor air is sucked into the case 100 through the outdoor air suction port 102 formed at both lateral surfaces of the case 100. The outdoor air sucked into the case 100 is sucked into the shroud 116 through the orifice 118 thus to condense the refrigerant while passing through the outdoor heat exchanger 112. Then, the outdoor air is discharged outdoors through the outdoor air discharge port 104.
When the centrifugal fan 124 is driven, the indoor air is sucked through the indoor air suction port 106 thus to be cooled while passing through the indoor heat exchanger 122. Then, the indoor air is discharged indoors through the indoor air discharge port 108.
However, in the conventional window type air conditioner, the outdoor air suction port 102 is formed at both lateral surfaces of the case 100, and the axial fan 114 is installed to be exposed to outside of the orifice 118. According to this, as shown in FIG. 4, the outdoor air sucked in the radius direction of the axial fan 114 collides with the rear surface of the blade 148 of the axial fan 114 thus to generate noise. The air that has collided with the blade 148 backflows by a centrifugal force thus to cause a flow loss. According to this, the air volume passing through the outdoor heat exchanger 112 is reduced thereby to lower the function of the outdoor heat exchanger 112.
To solve said problem, the inner area of the case 100 to which the outdoor air is sucked has to be wide. However, in the case, the entire size of the window type air conditioner is increased.